雅加达的五脚基

Kaki lima, the enduring British connection to Indonesia.

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The 5 feet story of Thomas Stamford Raffles

Jakarta Post, 19 Dec 10

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/12/19/the-5-feet-story-thomas-stamford-raffles.html
The Napoleonic Wars in Europe in the early 19th century reverberated in the small towns of the East Indies: though only for a short time, the British took over the colony from the Dutch.

The Governor General was Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. He ordered the construction of sidewalks along the main streets of Batavia of a certain height and width: 1 foot (33.5 centimeters) by about 5 feet.

Little did Sir Thomas know that sidewalks would become a very lively place for trade and commerce in the future. His 1-foot high and 5-foot deep sidewalks became known as the kaki (feet) lima (five), or the kaki lima.

Actually the Malay translation was not correct: 5 feet should be lima kaki. The mistranslation may explain why conventional wisdom holds that the city’s pedagang kaki lima, or street vendors, take their name from pushcarts with 3 feet and the two-footed vendors who push them.

The kaki lima in Indonesia offered a potpourri of goods such as socks, blouses, pots and pans. The fact that nowadays sidewalks are occupied by small eateries and stands was probably outside the realm of consideration for Raffles.

Though sometimes not travelling on paved sidewalks, kaki lima vendors have remained peripatetic since Raffles, stopping at the request of a patron or moving in search of a strategic place.

Slowly, kaki lima became connected with food. The food served became known as makanan kaki lima, or sidewalk food.

Don’t assume that Jakarta’s sidewalk cuisine typifies local food. Perhaps that was true 30 years ago, but not today.

A good example comes from vendors from Tegal, a small seaside town on Java’s north coast. The food they sell has nothing to do with local Jakarta food, but their warteg (or warung tegal Tegal-style foodstalls) have become a local institution.

The people from the Sundanese highlands working out of similarly named warsun are another example, offering sayur asem, lalap, pepes ikan and other dishes from distant lands.

When trying kaki lima food, choose items that are constantly boiled over flame, such as bubur ayam (chicken porridge), which is typically sold by an kaki lima vendor and enjoyed for breakfast or late at night. The vendors’ iced drinks are not for those with weak stomachs, nor are drinks made with santan (coconut milk).

In defense of kaki lima food, there are many other types of food you can (safely) enjoy while strolling along the city’s bustling sidewalks.

The food sold by kaki lima vendors no longer reflects local foods reflecting the nature of Jakarta’s melting pot. Jakarta is home to the Betawi people, but finding authentic Betawi (I prefer to say Jakarta) food is difficult due to the influx of other regional, and even foreign, food.

Local Jakarta delicacies such as nasi uduk and its special side dishes such as semur tahu or semur jengkol are now more geared to the taste of non-Betawi people. For instance, semur jengkol was a must-have side dish for the people of Condet and Ciganjur on the outskirts of eastern and southern Jakarta.

Some locals who thought they were true nasi uduk connoisseurs changed semur jengkol into ayam goreng (fried chicken) and semur daging because jengkol, with its strong aftertaste, was considered an inferior foodstuff not fit to serve to non-Betawi.

Semur jengkol was previously made according to the availability of the ingredients and in spacious gardens where the jengkol tree was always present. Traditional sop kambing (goat soup) can know only be found in very special places such as Tanah Abang and in Menteng area. Kerak telur — in my youth the most well-known sidewalk food and a true Betawi speciality — is now only available as a delicacy at Betawi food festivals!

Now hamburgers, hot dogs and donat (doughnuts) await Jakarta’s hungry masses — as does pempek from Palembang, pecel lele (milk fish) from East Java, gudeg from Yogyakarta and the city’s ubiquitous warteg.

Hygiene remains a problem for sidewalk dining as clean dish washing is seldom practiced due to a lack of running water.

When exploring kaki lima foods today at up-market establishments, consider the history of the region and the introduction of food from other areas.

Lifehouse in Jakarta

Over the last weekend, Jeremiah attended his first-ever rock concert, in Jakarta of all places.  As with most of the concert goers, Jeremiah was there to hear Lifehouse perform.  Since Lifehouse was an American band and the concert poster indicated that the concert would start at 5.59 pm, Jeremiah and his mates decided to be there at 6 pm.  Alas, the Lifehouse turned out to the closing act and only started playing at 11 pm!  Boo to the poor planning and communication on the part of the organisers. 

Great lessons re-learnt from the episode: (A) Be considerate towards others and put yourself in their shoes.  Do not do unto others what you would not do onto yourself.  (B) Communication is not just about what you say, but also how it is said and understood.   

Miss Tourism Indonesia 2010

Not too long ago, Jeremiah attended the finals of Miss Tourism Indonesia 2010.  Two more of the finalists caught the eye of most of the audience - Miss Papua for her bright and refreshing ethnic costume, and Miss Kelimantan, who at the age of 20 was already running a bank branch!

Jeremiah needs a cold beer

It has been one disaster after another.  It's now 9 pm on a Fri night.  One speech to write before calling it a night.  Time to find a temple in Jakarta to pray....

Greece, Any One?

Jeremiah wants to go to Greece too, and wonders if he can away with it if he tries to justify the trip on the grounds that he wanted find out if Athens was in Greece.

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Indonesian House Team Off to Greece for Ethics Lessons

Jakarta Globe, 19 Oct 10

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-house-team-off-to-greece-for-ethics-lessons/402254


Apparently undeterred by harsh public criticism of lawmakers’ frivolous overseas visits, the House Ethics Council is planning a trip to Greece, to learn about legislative ethics from a country with an ancient history of democracy.

Nudirman Munir, deputy chairman of the council, said on Tuesday that his group had a list of questions that urgently needed answers, so he is heading a team of eight legislators and three staffers leaving on Saturday for Greece where they hope to find them.

Greece was chosen, he said, because “an ethics council has been used there since the time of ancient Rome.” Meanwhile, a trip overseas had to be taken because “the information can’t be accessed through the Internet,” he added.

Ancient Greece was famous for its pioneering philosophers and developing much of the framework for modern western ethics, starting from notions of virtue and physical strength and progressing to strength of character and nobility of mind.

The study and development of ethical values continued in the Roman Empire, which spread across Greece and into Asia.

“How to stop legislators from ranting or mocking others in a meeting, how to stay ethical and within regulations? Can a House Speaker dismiss a plenary meeting unilaterally? These are the questions that need to be answered, because to date, we have only used our feelings when it comes to things like these,” Nudirman said.

The Golkar legislator said the team would also delve into the Greek Parliament’s smoking regulations to see “whether they are allowed to smoke.” Nudirman said the ethics council wanted to learn from Greece whether or not it could dismiss legislators if they failed to answer summons, whether legislators could leave sessions after simply raising their hands and how foreign countries treated legal issues and policies, including the death penalty, “so we are not fooled by NGOs.”

Nudirman claimed the council had thoroughly prepared its materials for the Greece trip.

However, Gayus Lumbuun, chairman of the council, doubted the advantages of the visit and would not join it.

“I see almost no benefits of the planned visit,” he said, adding that as long as the ethics council did not include representatives from the People’s Conscience Party and the Great Indonesia Movement, “its decisions are not even legitimate.”

The Greece trip is the latest in a series of overseas “comparative study trips” by legislators that have been slammed as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said Rp 122 billion ($13.6 million) had been earmarked in the 2010 visit for lawmakers’ official overseas visits — 30 percent more than in 2009.

The reports produced, however, left much to be desired, Fitra said. One was merely a two-page description of the visit, while others contained basic information easily found on the Internet.

Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), was skeptical of the visit.

“What kind of ethics do they want to learn about? If they want to learn ancient politics, then Greece is fine,” he said. “I don’t understand why should they go to Greece just to learn how to interrupt.

Music Dreamer Live! Cafe (爱琴海民歌餐厅）

Singaporeans are generally a fickle lot when it comes to dining and night life.  Unsurprisingly, restaurants, cafes and night joints come and go with regular frequency.  But tucked in a corner of the linkway between Millenia Walk and Marina Square is the venerable Music Dreamer Live! Cafe, which had been in existence even when Jeremiah was in Secondary School.  It is a place where fledging local Chinese bands could perform, where friends could have a good time without burning the pocket, and a first date place for many who went to SAP schools.

Last Friday, when Jeremiah and his mates were weighing where to go for post-dinner drinks in the Marina Square area.  The list narrowed down to Music Dreamer and Paulaner Brauhaus.  Would they go for German beer and chill out in a nicely furnished restaurant/pub but with a somewhat pretentious crowd (that place has its fair share of SPGs)?  Or they would head to a simpler place, with local bands brandishing Mandarin and Hokkien hits, freuqented only by heartlanders, serving no alocohol and only Asian tea/coffee drinks but in the process support the local music industry too? 

Well, it was really a no-contest, for Jeremiah and his mates are 100% heartlanders at heart.  And it is really heartlander joints like Music Dreamer that make up Singapore's cultural identity and heritage, not ersatz European joints.

Heartlands rulez.  Majulah Singapura.

欠遍问答题

Jeremiah is likely to be out of action for a few days following his dental surgery in a few hours.  Here's something for you to ponder in the meantime.  The first person who answers correctly gets a prize.

A hungry wolf and a sheep were on the same MRT train platform.  Why did the wolf not eat the sheep? 

City of Lights in China

Jeremiah's point-and-shoot Nikon didn't quite do justice to the amazing light-up in Xiamen, which was one of the best that Jeremiah had seen in Asia and indeed in the world.  It was well-planned, well executed and not too tacky.  It gave a certain vibrancy to the place, but did not overwhelm like the lights in Hong Kong.  The nights in the inner lake area and on the shoreline were even prettier but alas Jeremiah did not have his camera with him then. 

Sometimes one really needs to visit China to fathom the progress of China.  

Watch out, Paris.

Even the Mac is tastefully lighted up

小吃街

Zhongshan Road, the premier shopping street

Lighted up like a night club, this is actually an upmarket seafood stall

No laughing matter

Silly answers by students. Enjoy.

Asam Laksa in Bolehland

Back in KL for a leisure trip after a hiatus of eight years, lunch for Jeremiah today was a very delicious bowl of asam laksa.  Unlike the laksa in Singapore that is curry-based, asam laksa uses fish paste and tarmarind that give the soup base a hot and sour flavour.  Ordering the dish was not straight-forward at the Suria KLCC food court though.


Jeremiah: Aku mau satu mangkuk asam laksa ("I want a bowl of asam laksa")
Foodcourt staff: It is sour.

Jeremiah: Ya, asam.  (A bit irritated, since asam means sour in Melayu)

Asam Laksa: RM 6.5 at the Suria KLCC food court

Visit to the Hakka Homeland

On Day Two of his visit to Xiamen, Jeremiah visited the Hakka heartland of Yongding Township, best known for its tulou (土楼) or earthen buildings.  It was a trip that Jeremiah had been looking forward to since his childhood, ever since his late grandfather gave him a PRC stamp in the late 1980s commemorating the tulou.

The journey by bus from Xiamen to Yongding took 3 hours (one way), but the long ride was definitely it.  Fruit and tea plantations as well as mountain monasteries lining the highway make the journey a visual feast.  Imagine a banana plantation that goes on and on for miles.

Tulou generally come in two forms - circular and squarish.  Both function as clan residential buildings - it is not uncommon for up to four generations of 2000 Hakkas to live in one tuluo.   Built with dried mud and supported by wooden beams and columns inside, tulou look deceptively simple but surprisingly can take up to 80 years to build.  Usually consisting of four storeys, the first storey is used as a kitchen, the second as stores while the third and fourth are the sleeping quarters.  The shape of the tulou supposedly facilitate its defence - the Hakkas were migrants to the Min region and were not on the best relations with the natives.   Unfortunately, nowadays, tulou seem to be fighting a losing battle against modernity, with most young Hakka families eschewing the tulou for modern city life.  One tulou that Jeremiah visited had a capacity of 200 families but only housed 4.      

Bananas wrapped in plastic bags at this banana plantation to protect them from Typhoon Fanapi

Small town along the way.  Looks modern.

The most famous and popular tuluo in Fujian

Inside a tuluo

Aerial view

Chickens seeking shelter from the heat

Touchdown: Amoy

The Odyssey began in the holding room at Changi Airport for departing passengers. Seated in the room were passengers bound for Xiamen (Amoy), over half of which were elderly Singaporeans making to their ancestral villages in Southern China, underpinning the close cultural and people-to-people ties between Singapore and Xiamen. A large majority of the overseas Chinese that migrated to Southeast Asia during the l9th and early 20th centuries came from Fujian (of which Xiamen is a part) and nearby Guandong. Fujian being a very mountainous province with poor land infrastucture back then, it was easier for its residents to hop on a boat to seek opportunities in Nanyang then to relocate by land to other parts of China.

Touching down in Amoy, Jeremiah was pleasantly surprised by how efficient the airport was. Within 10 minutes of landing, he had cleared immigration and customs, and was waiting in line for a taxi. The taxi queue was long but moved fast. Another 20 minutes later, Jeremiah was at the nice CDL-owned Millenium Harbourview Hotel. The roads were largely empty as residents had cleared out of town for the 3-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday while tourists avoided Xiamen because of Typhoon Fanapi which struck Fujian earlier in the week and was currently wrecking havoc in the adjacent province of Guandong.

A good start to the vacation for Jeremiah abhorred crowds.

Taxi queue at the Xiamen airport...yes, people waited in line

View from Jeremiah's hotel room

Chinese tea set in the hotel room.  The Iron Buddha tea was actually very very good.  Beats the Iron Buddha tea in Singapore hands down.

Xiamen is the city closest to Taiwan and one of the first four Special Economic Zones in China.  Xiamen Island is actually very developed and is a much more livable and developed city than many cities in Southeast Asia.

Home Ground Advantage? Ya Right

Those who know Jeremiah well would know of his inherent dislike of consultants and analysts. If they are really that good, why don't they be their own bosses?

This truncated piece below published in Business Times last week show how out of touch with reality some of their work are. The article makes the case for investing in Singapore REITs. While discussing the Suntec REIT, our dear author said that F1 augurs well for retailers at Suntec. Open your eyes, dude.

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Home ground advantage

Business Times, 24 Sep 2010

DEREK TAN explains why investors should focus on Singapore Reits with exposure in retail and hospitality.

. . .

We therefore expect a boost in retail spending from the Formula One race, which is returning for its third year. With recent media reports indicating a strong take-up of hospitality offerings during race week, we believe the leasing and rental outlook will become increasingly buoyant and that present occupancy levels will be sustained for retail landlords. Hence, among the pure-play retail Reits, our pick is Suntec Reit, which stands out as direct exposure to the strong pedestrian traffic flow for Suntec City in the coming months. Also, its prime location in the Marina Bay area and proximity to the F1 race track augurs well for its retail tenants.

. . .
The writer is an equity analyst for the property sector at DBS Vickers Securities

Stuck!

Jeremiah is officially suffering from the writer's block and would be eternally grateful for suggestions on how to get out of it. Maybe it is time to open that bottle of Aberfeldy Single Malt Scotch Whisky lying in the corner of his room ... hic

Where That River Always Flows

Those were simple chill-out places that Jeremiah checked out last night -- Barks Cafe situated at Upper Changi Road and Simpang Bedok. Yet the emotions they evoked were anything but simple. While it was Jeremiah's first time at those two places, he felt a very strange sense of familiarity. The sights of fellow youngsters hanging out over a beer at Barks, the dint of football spectators following EPL over roti prata, they were all a welcome relief. Strangely, Jeremiah had never felt this way before despite having been away from home for prolonged periods in the past. It wss as if his senses are teling him that this is home surely. Could this be the onset of the quarter life crisis?

One thing was for sure though. Jeremiah has had an awesome time and now have two more favourite hangout places. Thanks, M. You rock!

Please Be Careful With My Heart

Came across this beautiful made music video featuring Singapore's latest singing sensation Tay Kewei.  A word of caution: watch this too many times will make you very tempted to fall in love.  Perhaps SDN should make this their theme song of the year.



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Please Be Careful With My Heart
Music: Jose Marie Chan
Lyrics: 鄭可為/唐宏達/Jose Marie Chan


脆弱的心 交給了你
請對我小心翼翼
你我之間 跨越界限
哪怕距離多遙遠
不管地动山移 改变不了我的坚定
And 'til life is through 我始终跟隨你
不管歲月來襲 相信永恒的美丽
From the very start 答應我永不分離
I love you and you know I do
There'll be no one else for me
Promise I'll be always true
For the world and all to see

Love has heard some lies softly spoken
And I have had my heart badly broken
I've been burned
And I've been hurt before
So I know just how you feel (和你一起)
Trust my love it's real for you (愛你需要勇氣)
I'll be gentle with your heart
I'll caress it like the morning dew

I'll be right beside you forever
I won't let our love fall apart
From the very start
I'll be careful with your heart

不管地动山移 (地动山移)
改变不了我的坚定 (我們的坚定)
That 'til life is through, I'll still be loving you
不管歲月來襲 (歲月來襲)
相信永恒的美丽 (永恒的美丽)
From the very start (From the very start)
From the very start
From the very start 答應我永不分離
答應我永不...分離

Excuse Me, Are You a Mad Doctor?

Over the past two weeks, anti-Malaysia sentiments in Indonesia, triggered by Malaysia's detention of three Indonesian fishery officers in contested waters near Bintan, heated up.  Faeces were hurled at the Malaysia Embassy in Jakarta, protests were held in various locations in Indonesia, and an Indonesian group even threatened to shave any Malaysians found in the streets of Jakarta. 

Against this backdrop, Jeremiah had, the other day, an interesting discussion with his lecturers on the differences between Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia, with particular focus on Melayu terms that Indonesians consider hilarious.  Here are few:

• Hospital Korban Lelaki (literally means "hospital for casualties of males", i.e. maternity hospital)
• Laskar Angin-Angin (literally means "wind troops", i.e. air force)
• Tandas (in Melayu this means "toilet" but means "demolished" in Bahasa Indonesia.  One wonders what gets demolished there)
• Panggung Wayang (i.e. cinema, but literally means "stage for wayang plays")
• Hantu Lompak-Lompak (i.e. vampire, but literally means "jumping ghost")
• Laskar Tak Berguna (i.e. retired soldier, but literally means "useless troops")

Jeremiah's favourite?  Dokter gila wins hands down.  It means psychiatrist but literally translates to "mad doctor".

Bird Mumblings (鳥話)

While checking Singapore media websites for updates on the National Day Rally the other day, Jeremiah came across this syndicated Jakarta Post article on the Blue Bird taxi service in Jakarta.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/26/%E2%80%98joe-le-taxi%E2%80%99-inside-blue-bird-group.html

Blue Bird is generally considered one of the most reliable taxi companies in Indonesia.  They are present in almost every big Indonesian city, such as Jakarta, Denpasar, Surabaya, Semarang etc.  The article begins with fradulent Bluebird taxis in Jakarta, and then moves on to the granddaughter of the founder's comments on how Bluebird started.

“The company [started] in our house,” [the granddaughter of the founder] recounted, “it was very, very close. The drivers would eat with us every night…Nowadays, with 24,000 drivers across Indonesia, it’s a bit difficult for us to sit all around one table! But we still have an open house day once a year …where myself and my mother serve the drivers. It’s a time for everyone to eat together. The family values are still there.”

The article then continues as follows:

In theory, at least, Blue Bird is impressive, and has been commended for this — this year it was the proud recipient of the 2010 IMAC (Indonesia’s Most Admired Company) award. But, in practice, there’s a different story.

Many consider Express taxis to be more clued-up to street names and addresses, with one customer commenting that Blue Bird’s “biggest problem is with the drivers’ road knowledge. 

Yesterday, what should have been a 5-minute journey took one full hour of going up and down the same street to find the address.”


Having taken Blue Birds and other companies' taxis a few times, Jeremiah must say that the article is right on the dot.  Undoubtedly, the Blue Bird spirit and its modern fleet is what sets the company aside from its competitors.  Bird Bird taxis are generally modern and well-maintained, and its drivers polite.  But at the same time, Bird Bird seemed to have expanded too rapidly.  Quite a few Blue Bird drivers that Jeremiah encountered were very young, poorly trained and did not even know key landmarks in Indonesia.

The moral of the story: Companies in the service industry must focus on its service standards too.  Growth and cheap labour are not everything.  Chasing growth at the expense of other priorities could potentially damage one's reputation, the spirit that made one strong, and be detrimental over the long run.

Grand, Grand Indonesia

Having been to a tad too many overhyped shopping malls in Indonesia, Grand Indonesia came as a very pleasant surprise to Jeremiah.  Spanning over 600,000 square metres and occupying the primest location in the heart of Jakarta, the Grand Indonesia complex consists of a office tower, Hotel Indonesia-Kempinski, a high-end residential complex, anchored by the opulent Grand Indonesia Shopping Town (which incidentally feels more like a shopping city than a town).

With over three hundred shops and restaurants in its two wings, Grand Indonesia is about three times Paragon and VicoCity combined, and beats any mall in Singapore hands down with its opulence and range of shops.  In the East Wing are top-end stores like Chanel, Burberry and Salvatore Ferragamo, while more affordable brands like Mango, Raoul, Top Shop as way as Japanese departmental store chain Seibu can be found in the other wing.   For food lovers, fret not.  There are two Crystal Jades, Sushi Tel, Waraku and many, many excellent restaurants.  There is even a Cold Stone Creamery!

Do check out this mall if you are ever in Jakarta, but be mentally prepared for the high prices in some of the shops. In one of the homeware store there, a small dustbin was selling for S$100, while at Kinokuniya, the Saturday edition of the Straits Times retailed for S$7.50.

Artist Impression of the Plaza Indonesia Complex

Specialty haircut shop for kids - a sign of the atas-ness of the clientele

Food court at Grand Indonesia

The dining cluster area feels like a mini-Genting.  In this section of the dining cluster, genuine-looking bamboo shoots and plum trees are used to create a Northeast Asian experience.

Pearls of Wisdom

Not too long ago, Jeremiah wrote about Miss Environment Indonesia beseeching Indonesians to "safe the water".

http://lawrence-a-constant-gardener.blogspot.com/2010/03/store-your-water-in-your-safe.html

It seems like Miss Indonesia Qory Sandioriva, too, has come under flak for her English.  During an interview during the preliminary round of the Miss Universe competition, Qory was asked for the best advice she would give to men.  She nervously replied,

“I think when you down the women can make you up, and I think the women can be said that ‘I have advice for you’ if you way up, you have to be nice with people, include women, so when you down, women can be nice with you.”

Does she mean: Women really like to be on top but if you are nice to them, they will be nice to you and not insist to be on top.  Or is it a classic case of lost in translation?  There is only one way to find out.  Be nice to women!

Love You Like the Sky Above

Do you heart eggs like Jeremiah too?

Warning: This music video is very addictive.  Do not listen to it with volume at full blast in the office.  Embedding is disabled.  Click on link below to view on YouTube at your own peril. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFW9fMDAF9w&feature=related


Sidenote: This is Jeremiah's 100th blog post.  He would like to thank all the readers out there for their support all this while, through good times and bad, through smiles and tears.  Merci!

Destination Ang Mo Kio

The bus route was exactly the same, but the journey different.  While he was still a recruit on his Basic Military Training, Jeremiah used to take Bus Service 159 between Nee Soon Camp and Ang Mo Kio Central.  It was a pleasant but roller-coaster ride back then.  Pleasant because Jeremiah never really had to wait long for the bus, which was seldom packed. Pleasant because the traffic was smooth and there were lots of greenery along the way.  Roller-coaster because the happiness felt at every book-out morphed into xianness that intensifies as the bus nears Nee Soon Camp on the return trip.

Last weekend, many many years after his Basic Military Training, Jeremiah took Bus Service 159 home again after his IPPT at Khatib Camp.  That journey home was a microcosm of current-day Singapore and a mirror of the changes that have taken place in Singapore over the past few years. 

Leaving the camp at about 5:30 pm, Jeremiah waited for about 25 minutes for the bus to arrive.  Back in the days when Singapore did not have a world-class transport system, Jeremiah did not have have to wait for more than 15 minutes for the bus, even late at night when the bus service was running on a reduced frequency.  Halfway through the journey this time round, the bus became packed with foreign workers, the cacophony of their loud voices shattering the tranquillity.  Several new buildings could be seen along the way, taking the place of what was then green fields and forests. Whether the changes are good or bad Jeremiah would leave to another day, but the bus journey was certainly no longer as pleasant as it used to be.  Nonetheless, Jeremiah was as glad as previously when he reached home.  After all, home is where the heart is, regardless of how arduous the odyssey may be.

Bo Zheng Hu

Some rules are meant to be broken, but motorcycles on a pedestrian overhead bridge are a tad too much!

Photo from the Jakarta Post

Animal Business in Makassar

For a ultimate urbanite like Jeremiah, the preponderance of wild animals running around in Makassar came as a rude shock.  Hens, cocks, dogs, goats and cats were a common sight around his hostel.  The traffic jams and air pollution notwithstanding, Jakarta has been a welcome relief for Jeremiah.  But he sure misses the cheap and fresh seafood in Makassar. 

Wild goats 10m away from Jeremiah's hostel

Hens running amok in the front yard

They seem to be enjoying their game of hide and seek

Yummy seafood being grilled

Lunch for Jeremiah.  This huge fish only costs S$3

A Love Story

Not exactly a big fan of tearjerkers, Jeremiah nonetheless found himself catching "Basic Love" ("愛情故事") out of boredom but was glad that he caught it.  Set in Hong Kong, the movie revolves around a love triangle spanning ten years.   While the theme was typical, the acting and plot were excellent with the film full of dramatic tensions.

In essence, the protagonists - Guy A, Gals B and C - have known one another since their high school days.  Gals B and C are best friends.  Guy A has been in love with Gal B for the longest time, Gal B too likes Guy A but pretends that she doesn't know that Guy A likes her because she has leukemia and feels that they do not have a future together.  Gal C, on the other hand, carries a torch for Guy A.  Things come to a head when Gal B's condition worsened and she could no longer keep her condition a secret.  She and Guy A got together for a while before she disappeared.  Out of love for Guy A, she would like him to be together with Gal C as she is dying.  Out of love, Guy A of course would like to spend Gal B's last days together with her.  Out of love, Gal C decided to further her studies overseas for she knew that one cannot love to order and sometimes love means letting someone go.  In the end, Gal B dies but makes Guy A promise that he would not fall in love with another woman unless that woman is Gal C.

The cute actresses aside, what Jeremiah liked most about the film was how it brought out the complex nature of love.  The same love that drew all the protagonists today also has a centrifugal side to it.  Love means fighting for your loved one but at the same time, it can also mean giving him/her up.  Ultimately, it is about giving, rather than taking.  It is about making sacrifices, including giving up your loved one.

That, Jeremiah feels, is the essence of love.

Get Them While Young

Even for a Singaporean, Indonesians seem to like to sing a lot.  Karaoke joints are everywhere.  Coaches are equipped with basic karaoke systems.  Go to any tourist-oriented restaurant and chances are that it would have a live band that would happily welcome diners to perform stand-up karaoke acts.  Even in upmarket lounges, guests are welcomed to go on stage to sing.

The secret as to why karaoke is so popular?  Perhaps it got to do with the abundance of kiddie MTVs for young children here in Indonesia. 

Young girl at Fort Rotterdam, Makassar lip-synching while shooting a kiddie MTV.

Watching the Waves Go By

The biggest Indonesian city east of Java and the gateway to eastern Indonesia, Makassar is a sprawling city of 1.5 million.  Yet surprisingly, the city centre is an oasis of calm and tranquility with straight roads, pavements not overcrowded with street vendors, and where one chill and watch the waves go by.

View of the sunset from outside Fort Rotterdam

Losari Beach

Charming neighbourhood where Jeremiah's hotel was located

Jalan Somba Opu, which is populated by over 30 jewellery shops at last count

Generally big ships are more sea-worthy than smaller ones.  Not this one though.

Shopping in Bali

Less known for its shopping than for its pristine waters and white, fine sand, Bali is actually a shopping paradise.  The Kuta/Legian/Seminayak area features kilometers and kilometers of provisions shops and souvenir stores existing side by side with boutique shops selling art handicrafts, furniture, designer clothes (usually at a steep discount) and even imitation designer footballs.  One can literally shop until he/she drops.  These photos go out to M, as well as all die-hard shoppers out there!

Art Gallery

Beer Bintang mercandise shore in Legain

Sales were everywhere

Antique shops.  Several of them in Legian and Seminyak

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Japanese fashion-inspired designs.  Best of all, they were on sale!

Outfitting your new home?  Check this store out

Not a problem if you need artefacts made to order too